Your Right to Know

After a 43-year career on the bench, Madison County Common Pleas Judge Robert D. Nichols is
calling it a day.

Nichols, a Republican who has spent the past 38 years running the Common Pleas Court, will
retire on Oct. 31. Before his current post, he was judge of county court (a municipal-court
precursor). The call of his young grandchildren, he said, has grown too loud to resist.

“Frankly, it is time for me to start directing all of my attention to our family,” said Nichols,
who will turn 71 in October. “I had a 5-year-old throw a baseball, and it got past me before I ever
even got my glove on, so I don’t know how this will go, but I’ll give it a try.”

Because of statutory age limits for judges, Nichols would not have been allowed to run again in
2016, when his current term expires. Leaving early allows Gov. John Kasich to appoint a
replacement.

Nichols notified Kasich’s office and the Ohio Supreme Court of his plans in a letter sent last
week.

Nichols is well-known in legal circles for his knowledge of historical case law. His head for
research is legendary.

“We will be losing an extensive bank of knowledge, an institutional memory of the law,” said
Madison County Prosecutor Steve Pronai. “Judge Nichols’ rulings in the courtroom were always fair
to both sides. What more could you ever ask for?”

Nichols runs a casual courtroom, using an engaging tone rather than a disciplinarian one most of
the time — although he has no patience for excuses.

Outside of the courtroom, he has been an advocate for judicial power, often fighting to ensure
that new laws do not erode judges’ options when sentencing defendants.

He also battled — both publicly and privately — the late Ohio Supreme Court Justice Thomas J.
Moyer on a number of issues, most notably whether judges should be appointed to their positions or
elected. Nichols supports the latter.

A shift to treatment-based sentencing has limited a judge’s options and isn’t solving the drug
problems that are choking communities, Nichols said. That also factored into his decision to retire
early, he said: “A younger person on the bench will look at the problems and issues perhaps through
a different lens.”